Okay, so this isn't stamping-related, or is it?

I promised awhile back to return and explain why I all of a sudden have a puppy to walk. (Adding yet one more thing that keeps me out of my craft room! And it's a stretch, but that's how I figure this post MAY be stamping-related.)

Somewhere in the middle of May, during a supper conversation, my son asked if we could take care of his orchestra teacher's puppy sometime during the summer while she was away. We haven't had a dog for several years, and I often hear about how everyone wants to get another dog, so I said that would be fine.

From what I could gather from my "who needs to pay attention to details?" son, it sounded like this puppy was going to visit at least a few houses during her "vacation." I thought that sounded a little strange, but after hearing that kids were clamoring to sign up for this opportunity, I didn't think much more about it because I thought our chances of actually seeing the puppy were pretty slim.

Fast forward to June, and news of the puppy arrangement surfaces again. The puppy is staying home and someone is going to stay at the teacher's house to take care of it. Okay, I have to admit, I might have been a little let down at hearing that news because I did think it might be fun to have a dog in the house again. Then, a couple of days into summer vacation, my son has a message on his phone: Could we still take the puppy? The house-sitter backed out.

Thinking back, I said "yes" without asking any questions at all! I had no information on how long the puppy would be here or how this was all going to work! But I said yes, and before we knew it, the laundry room was overwhelmed with puppy paraphernalia, and we were all sitting on the kitchen floor playing with Sydney.



She's an Australian Cattle Dog, about 3 1/2 months old now, and will be staying with us until the middle of August. I had never heard of this breed before, but interestingly enough, one of the four or so "parts" of the breed is Dalmatian and the dog we had was a Dalmatian. Sometimes the likeness to our dog is incredible, we find ourselves calling her "Maggie" instead of "Sydney!" She's as sweet as can be and remarkably good at staying in our yard. She still has her exasperating puppy moments, but then redeems herself by doing cute stuff, like this:



No, she wasn't in a parade, but it sure looks like it, huh? Crazy puppy!

Got a box of new goodies from the new catalog yesterday, in preparation for my New Catalog Open House on July 24th (11AM - 7 PM) and for the swaps I've signed up to participate in. Like always, it was just like Christmas slicing the tape on the box! Lots of fun, new stuff! Hope you can join me at the Open House later this month to see for yourself!

What, time for another walk? Here we go! Have a great day!!